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Labor unions are still able to collect “agency fees” (at least for now) following a 4-4 split decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. In Friedrichs v. The California Teachers Association, lead plaintiff and public school teacher Rebecca Friedrichs argued that a California state law violates the First Amendment right to free speech and association by compelling financial support for an organization with which she disagrees. This argument is premised on the idea that agency fees…

Labor unions are still able to collect “agency fees” (at least for now) following a 4-4 split decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. In Friedrichs v. The California Teachers Association, lead plaintiff and public school teacher Rebecca Friedrichs argued that a California state law violates the First Amendment right to free speech and association by compelling financial support for an organization with which she disagrees. This argument is premised on the idea that agency fees…

Adjunct Instructors
Given past restrictions by rulings from the Supreme Court and the NLRB, union organizing in higher education simply has not been very effective. One of the primary hurdles for most unions in the education arena has been the managerial status of full-time faculty, which would exempt them from coverage under the National Labor Relations Act and the fact that the Supreme Court had exempted religious institutions from coverage under the Act. All that…

Earlier this week the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision finding Starbucks violated the National Labor Relations Act when it terminated an employee who uttered profanities at a Starbucks manager in the presence of customers. This was the employee’s second profanity (and presumably espresso) fueled tirade directed toward a Starbucks manager at the Manhattan Starbucks location. Despite the employee’s direction to the manager of what he could do to himself, an administrative law judge…

Earlier this week the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision finding Starbucks violated the National Labor Relations Act when it terminated an employee who uttered profanities at a Starbucks manager in the presence of customers. …